December 29, 2008

Did you hear what Howard Stern said the other day?

Neither did most of us. That's one of the reasons why Jay Leno stayed at NBC.

Then — poof! — Mr. Stern all but disappeared. Even Jay Leno, during a recent interview with The New York Times about his decision to stay at NBC to host a prime-time show, cited Mr. Stern as an example of the dangers of obscurity.

“On radio, Howard to me was a populist. The truck driver, the average guy would listen in the cafe, the truck, the old car that’s 50 years old and still has an AM radio,” said Mr. Leno in the interview. “But I don’t hear him quoted anymore. People don’t say: ‘Hey, did you hear what Howard said today?’ ”

Rumors are that Howard Stern will leave satellite radio in two years and return to terrestrial radio when his contract expires. Stern's contract is worth $500 million and expires at the end of 2010.

CBS Radio, the company Howard left more than 3 years ago, has been airing Sirius Satellite Radio commercials featuring Stern's voice the past few weeks on its stations.